Photographic-printing machine.



No. 666,396. Pmmd Jan. 22, 1901.

E. SCHNEIDER.

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING MACHINE.

A limm filed. Sept. 29, 1900.) (No Model. 3 Shoots-Shut I.

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No. 666,396. Patented Ian. 22,19m.

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' PHOTOGRAPH") PRINTING MACHINE.

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No. 666,396. Patented m. 22, IBM.

. .E. SCHNEIDER.

PHOTOGRAPH"; PRINTING MACHINE.

(Application flhd 800L129, 1900.)

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- UNITED STATES I PATENT OFFICE.

EBERIIARD SCHNEIDER, OF NE YORK, N. Y.

PHOTOGRAPHlC-PRINTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 666,396, dated January 22, 1901.

To all? whom it may cancer/t:

Be it known that I, EBERHARD SCHNEIDER, a citizen of Germany, and a resident of New York city, county and State of New York,have invented certain new and useful. Improvements in Photographic-Printing Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved machine for printing photographs, the machine being particularly adapted to print successively the pictures formed on a long and narrow negative such as used, for example, in moving-pictureexhibitions. Bymymachine the positive and negative films are fed with a like speed intermittently through the machine. When the films are in motion, the light-openingwill be closed bya shutter, and when the films are at rest the shutter will be opened to admit the light and efiect the printing. Thus the printing of the pictures will be automatically performed in an accurate and rapid manner and blurring will be prevented.

The invention-consists in the various features of construction pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved film-printing machine; Fig. 2, a'side elevation, partly in section, of the same; Fig. 3, a detail section through part of the film and shutter driving mechanism; Fig. 4, a detail of the mechanism for feeding the films; Fig. 5, a

horizontal section on line 5 5, Fig. 4; Fig. 6,-

a side elevation, partly broken away, of the machine, showing the side opposite to that shown in Fig. 2; Fig. 7, a section on line 7 7, Fig. 1. Figs. 8and 9 are similar sections with some of the parts omitted and showing the shutters in consecutive positions, and Fig. 10 is a detail of the Geneva movement.

The letter arepresents the frame of the machine, having the opening a, through which the light is admitted to effect the printing.

A is the sensitized or positive strip or film, and B is the superposed negative transparent strip or film, which contains a row of the pictures to be printed upon the positive film. These films a .e' fed simultaneously back of the opening a by an intermittent motion, so

. that they-are exposed for the time necessary Application filed September 29, 1900. Serial No. 31,498. kNo model.)

then advancedrapidly to expose and print the next picture. The positive film -A,Wound upon a reel A in a dark chamber a passes over acurved block, rest, or rollerb, arranged back of the opening a. Thence the film passes over a sprocket-drum 0, having two rows of teeth which engage the usual perforations formed along the edges of the film. 6c

The drum 0 is mounted upon a shaft 0, to which it is held by a nut 0 Fig. 5, so that it may be readily exchanged. Aframe (1, swinging on shaft (1 and carrying a pair of guiderollers d serves to hold the sprocket-drum in engagement with the perforations of the film A. This frame may be fixed inany desired position by a clamp-screw (i From the drum 0, which is provided with a stripper p, the film A passes over the rear roller d? into a rear dark chamber a The negative film B passes from reel B also over the block b, and thence to the sprocketdrum e, mounted upon shaft 6, which is adapted to be driven intermittently, in mannor hereinafter specified, and which imparts a corresponding intermittent motion to shaft 0 by toothed wheels 6 0 In order to adjust the sprocket-drum eupon its shaft e in'such a manner that the nega- 8o tive film may be accurately centered opposite the opening a, I provide the drum 6 with a worm-wheel e worm a, turning in a bracket a which is connected to the shaft e in such a manner that it will rotate together with the same, but may be readily slipped oif if it is desired toexchange the sprocket-drum. A nut 6 prevents the bracket and drum from slipping 01?.

By turning the worm'e the drum 6 will he go slightly rotated upon its shaft to draw the film B downward and center the picture accurately within the opening a.

A frame f, turning on shaft f and having guide-rollers f serves to hold the drum e in 5 engagement with' the perforations of the film B. This frame may be set and clamped similar to frame (1 by the clamp-screw From This wheel is engaged by a driven from shaft 6 by chain 9 The film is held against drum g by rollers g hung in adjustable frame g, which can be set by means of screw g Between the drums e. and g is arranged a springtension roller h, which bears against the film and serves to take up any slack.

The opening a is provided at its inner side with a yielding frame 2', that bears against the film Band presses it, together with film A, against the block b. This frame is of a size to inclose the portion of the film to be exposed and to exclude the light from the remainder of the film. The block b I provide with a curved face that forms a curved backrest for the films and bulges the portions of the films under exposure outwardly or toward the light-opening. To this curved face I attach importance, as the films while being drawn over it will be pressed into intimate contact and will be so tightly seated that all folds or imperfections are straightened out. Thus all the light will be forced to pass through the film B, and any lateral difiusion of light which might cause a blurred print is prevented.

The block b is secured to a plate I), hung upon a pintle b and provided with an arm b which is engaged by a set-screw b. By turning this screw the block b may be set to ac commodate different thicknesses of films and to permit the films to be removed and replaced.

The mechanism for imparting intermittent rotary motion to the shaft e, and consequently to the shaft 0, is as follows: j is a pulley driven by a suitable power and mounted upon a worm-shaftj, which is hung in an adjustable hearingj The worm 7" engages a worm-wheelj turning on a studj and connected to an elliptical gear-wheel The wheel meshes into a corresponding elliptical gear-wheelj, fast on shaftf, to which is also secured the driving-diskj of a Geneva movement. The diskj is provided with a driving pin or pins j", that engage successively the radial grooves of the Maltesecross-shaped gear is, which forms the second part of the Geneva movement.

The wheel his mounted upon the shaft 6', and thus it will be seen that the rotating movement of pulleyj is converted .into an intermittent rotating movement of shaft 6, and consequently of shaft 0'.

The advantage of driving each of the films A and B by a separate sprocket-drum c and e is that films having differently-gaged holes may be drawn evenly through the machine. So, also, films having equally-gaged holes must be fed by two sprocket-drums, because the curvature of both films is different. It may, however, happen that the holes in both films can be engaged by either the front or rear sprocket-drum alone, in which case the other sprocket-drum is superfluous. The rear sprocket alone is used when the holes in the rear film are nearer together,

fast on the shafts Z Z respectively.

while the front sprocket alone is used when the holes in the front film are nearer together, as will be readily understood.

As thus far described a section of the superposed films is exposed for a certain length of time to the light entering opening a, and then the films are fed downward to expose a new section. Thus the pictures on the negative film are successively printed upon the positive film.

During the time the films are moved-i. 8., between the exposures-the light must be shut off from the films, and this is accomplished by a pair of overlapping shutters Z andnl,

1e lower shutter Z should be of a length to cover the entire sight-opening, so that the upper shutter 1 may be removed. This is done when the top of a film-section is to be exposed for a greater length of time than the bottom of such section, as the top of shutter l will open before and close after the-bottom of such shutter.

The mechanism for operating the shutters is as follows: Upon the shaft j is mounted an eccentric m, which reciprocates a rod m, thatis adjustably connected to an oscillating lever m turning on stud m and having a nose or hooked-shaped end m. The adjustment between lever m and rod m is effected by a pin m entering one of a series of holes m of rod m and having for its object to shorten or lengthen the time of exposure. The hook m engages and tilts a plate or projection 0, fast on shaft'Z of lower shutter Z and set slightly back from said shaft. The

plate 0 is provided with an arm 0', carrying a counterweight 0 which has a tendency to throw the shutter Z into its open position against the action of the hook m which tends to close the shutter and hold it in its closed position. Motion is transmitted from arm 0 to the upper shutter Zby means of a link 0 pivoted to arm 0 and also to an arm 0 of shaft 1 so that both shutters swing simultaneously outwardly or inwardly. If desired, the motion may be transmitted from one shutter to the other by a pair of gears. The rotation of shaftj will cause an oscillation of the lever in", and when the hook m of such lever moves down, Fig. 7, it will cause the plate 0 to swing out of its way, Fig. 8, and to thereby rock the shaft Z and close both shutters. After the shutters are thus closed the hook 111 will continue its downward movement, and by impinging against the plate 0 will hold the shutters in their closed position during its entire downstroke, Fig. 9. During this closing of the shutters the films A B will be fed downward by their sprockets c e, and when they are again arrested the hook m will swing upwardly to release plate 0 and permit the weight 0 to throw the shutters rapidly into their open position. When the shutters are thus opened,the arrested films will be exposed to the light to print the next picture, after which the shutters are again closed and the feet the next exposure. 7 be seen that a succession of clean prints will one, can

films fed downward. The mechanisms for moving the shutte'rs and films ooact in such a manner that the shutters are first closed, the films thenfed downward and arrested, and the shutters are-then again opened to ef In this way it will desired, concentric gears may be substituted for the elliptic gears.

What I claim is:

1. In aphotographic-printiiigmachine,- the combination of a sprocket-drum adapted to engage a positive film,with a segond sprocketdrum adapted to engage a negative film, means for driving said drums intermittently,

and with dark chamber for inclosing the positive film, substantially as specified.

2. In a photographic-printing machine, the combination of a sprocket-drum adapted to engage a positive film, with a second sprocketdrum adapted to engage a negative film, means for driving said drums intermittently, a shutter, and means for alternately opening and closing the shutter, substantially as speci- 3. In a photographic-printing machine, the combination of a dark chamber for enclosing the positive film, with a sprocket-drum adapted to intermittently feed said film, a second sprocket-dru m adapted to intermittently feed the negative film,in unison with the positive film, and a shutter adapted to alternately expose and cover the films, substantially as specified. g

4. In a photographic-printing machine, the combination of a sprocket-drum for feeding a film, with a swinging frame having rollers that are'adapted to hold the film against the drum, and with means" for clamping said frame in position, substantially as specified.

5. In a photographic-printingmachine, the combination of a pair of intergeared shafts with sprocket-drums movably mounted upon said shafts, and with means for imparting an intermittent rotary movement to one of said shafts, substantially as specified.

6. In a photographic-printing machine, the combination of an intermitten tly-driven shaft, with a sprocket-drum mounted thereon, and

with means for setting said drum adj ustably' upon said shaft, substantially as specified.

7. In a photographic-printing machine, the combination of anintermittently-driven shaft with a sprocket-drum niou'nted thereon, a worm-wheel secured to the drum, a worm engaging the same, and a bracket'on the shaft for supporting the worm, substantially as specified.

8. In a photographic-printing machine, the ctmibination {of an vintermittently-driven sprocket-drum adapted to engage the negative lilm, with a second sprocket-drum that also engages said film, and with a tension-,

roller that bears against the film between the drums, substantially as specified.

9. In aphotographicprinting machine, the combination of a sprocket-dl im adapted to engage the negative film, with a second sprocket-drum that also engages said film, means for intermittently driving said drums, meansfor holding the film against the drums, and a spring-tensioned roller between the drums, substantiallyas specified.

10. In a photographic-printing machine having a light-opening, a film-rest havinga curved facearranged back of said opening and adapted to bulge the films toward the opening, substantially as specified.

11. In a photographic'printing machine having a light-opening, the combination of a film-rest having a curved face, with means for intermittentlyfeeding a pair of superposed films over said curved face and back of the light-opening, substantially as specified.

12. In a photographic printing machine having a light-opening, the combination of a film-rest having a curved face and arranged back of said opening, with a pivoted plate that carries said rest, and means for adjusting said plate, substantially as specified.

13.. In a photographic-printing machine having a light-opening, the combination of a film-rest having a curved face and arranged back of said opening, witl1 a yielding frame adapted to press a pair of superposed films against the rest, substantially as specified.

14. In a photographic printing machine having a light-opening, the combination of a film-rest having a curved face and arranged back of said opening, with means for intermittently feeding a pair of superposed films over said curved face, and a yielding fraine for pressing the films against said face, substantially as specified.

15. In a photographic-printing machine, the combination of a power shaft with a sprocket-drum adapted to engage a positive film, a second sprocket-drum adapted to engage a negative film, means for intermittently driving said drums from said shaft, a shutter, and means for alternately opening and closing said shutter, all being so arranged that the shutter is closed when the sprocket-drums are in motion, and that the shutter is open when the sprocket-d ru ms are at rest, substantially as specified.

16. -In a photographic-printing machine, the combination of a driving-shaft with a Geneva movement actuated thereby, a sprocketdrum having a shaft that is intermittently driven by said movement, a lever also operated by the driving-shaft, and a pair of shutters operated by said lever, substantially as specified.

17. In a photographic-printing machine, the combination of a driving-shaft with a pair'of elliptical gear-wheels actuated thereby, a shaft rotated by one of said gear-wheels, a shutter, means for operatively connecting IOO IIG

said shutter to said shaft, a sprocket-drum, and a Geneva movement for transforming the rotating movement of said shaft into an intermittent rotary movement of the drum, substantially as specified.

18. In a photographic-printing machine, the combination of a worm and worm-wheel, with a shaft actuated thereby, a Geneva movement actuated by said shaft, a sprocketdrum actuated by the Geneva movement, a

lever also actuated by said shaft, and a shutter actuated by the lever, substantially as specified.

19. In a photographic-printing machine, the combination of the following elements: a

worm and worm-wheel, a pair of intergeai'ed elliptic wheels actuated thereby, a shaft actuated by one of the elliptical wheels, a sprocket-drum, a Geneva movement between the shaft and sprocket-drum, a shutter, and :o a lever actuated by the shaft and adapted to actuate the shutter, substantially as specified.

Signed by meat New York city, county and State of New York, this 28th day of September, 1900.

EBERHARD SCHNEIDER.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM ScHULZ, F. v. 3RIEsEN. 

